In Stores Now 8/14

Philly-based band The Districts return with their third LP, what KEXP Music Director Don Yates calls, "their strongest set to date, with a fuller, more dynamic and densely textured sound combining thick, swirling guitars, muscular rhythms and often-dark lyrics of isolation and dysfunctional relationships juxtaposed with anthemic, life-affirming choruses and sweeping melodies."

Guided By Voices deliver a new one: "the latest album from Robert Pollard & co. sounds like one of their strongest releases in quite a while, with more consistently stellar songs ranging from crunchy Who-style power pop to brooding psych-pop." On her fourth LP, Brooklyn-based artist Frankie Rose brings "an assured blend of propulsive, nocturnal synth-pop and shimmering, Cocteau Twins dream-pop."

The third solo album from Gillian Welch's longtime musical partner David Rawlings "is another smartly crafted blend of string-band music with elegiac folk-rock and orchestral country-soul, featuring Welch on harmony vocals along with accompaniment from acclaimed fiddler Brittany Haas and members of Old Crow Medicine Show and Dawes." Veteran British-bred band The Cribs return with their seventh full-length, "a solid set of grungy garage-rock. Recorded and mixed by Steve Albini, the album combines thick, rumbling guitars and muscular rhythms with fist-pumping song hooks." And the third LP from Providence, RI band Downtown Boys is "a hard-hitting blend of driving post-punk and raucous garage-rock, combining buzzing guitars, searing keyboards, wailing sax and energetic rhythms with Victoria Ruiz's impassioned vocals and politically militant, bilingual lyrics attacking racism, classism, and homophobia."

• A.J. Croce - "Cures Just Like Medicine"
• from Just Like Medicine on Compass
• Alex Williams - "Little Too Stoned"
• from Better Than Myself on Big Machine Label Group, LLC
• Amy O - "Lavender Night"
• from Elastic on Winspear
• ...And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead - "Relative Ways"
• from Source Tags & Codes: Expanded 15th Anniversary Edition [2LP] on Interscope/UMe
• Bonobo - "The Shark"
• from One Offs...Remixes & B Sides [2LP] on Tru Thoughts
• The Cribs - "Rainbow Ridge"
• from 24-7 Rock Star Shit on Sonic Blew
• David Rawlings - "The Weekend"
• from Poor David's Almanack on Acony Records
• Dead Rock West
• from More Love on Omnivore
• The Districts - "Violet"
• from Popular Manipulations on Fat Possum
• Downtown Boys - "Lips That Bite"
• from Cost of Living on Sub Pop
• Emily Saliers - "Long Haul"
• from Murmuration Nation on Megaforce / MRI
• Frankie Rose - "Red Museum"
• from Cage Tropical on Slumberland
• Guided by Voices
• from How Do You Spell Heaven on GBV, Inc.
• Hamell on Trial - "SAFE"
• from Tackle Box on New West
• Hinder - "The Reign"
• from The Reign on The End
• Kelley Stoltz - "I'm Here for Now"
• from Que Aura on Castle Face
• Kesha - "Rainbow"
• from Rainbow on Kemosabe / RCA
• Kutmah - "Bury Me By The River (feat. Gonjasufi)"
• from TROBBB! on Big Dada
• Live - "Pain Lies On The Riverside"
• from Mental Jewelry [25th Anniversary Edition] on Geffen
• Lucky Soul - "No Ti Amo"
• from Hard Lines on Crystal Paris Records
• matt pond PA - "Still Summer"
• from Still Summer on 131 Productions
• Oneohtrix Point Never - "The Pure and the Damned (ft. Iggy Pop)"
• from Good Time [Original Motion Picture Soundtrack] on Warp
• Paul Kelly - "Firewood and Candles"
• from Life Is Fine on Cooking Vinyl
• Rat Boy - "SCUM"
• from Scum on Parlophone
• So Much Light - "Artificial Sweeteners"
• from Oh, Yuck on Anti-
• Trailer Trash Tracys - "Eden Machine"
• from Althaea on Domino / Double Six
• Venom Inc. - "Dein Fleisch"
• from Ave on Nuclear Blast America
• Will Hoge - "Seventeen"
• from Anchors on Edio
• Woggles - "What You Think We Are"
• from Tally Ho! on Wicked Cool Records